Internally, particular parts of a burner typically come into contact with fuel. The chemical reaction of sulfur compounds (H2S) contained in the fuel with the base metal of the burner may cause iron sulfide scale to form inside the burner. The base metal of the burner is typically steel, e.g. 16Mo3 steel. The iron sulfide scale forming inside the burner may flake off and in some cases cause plugging of the holes through which the fuel is injected into a combustion chamber. The holes through which the fuel is injected into the combustion chamber are typically 1.5 mm in diameter. Plugging of said holes results in uneven combustion, thereby considerably worsening in particular the emission values of the burner in question. The availability of the burner affected or more specifically the associated combustion chamber is impaired in this case.
The problem of possible plugging of the holes as a result of flaking iron sulfide scale has hitherto been solved either by cleaning the burner or installing a new burner. However, cleaning is very time-consuming. In such cases, therefore, a complete set of new burners generally has to be installed which is very expensive. Although the problems described only occur on machines which are operated with pre-heating, these machines are being increasingly used. High additional costs resulting from the possible formation of iron sulfide scale are therefore to be expected.
In addition, the formation of in particular iron sulfide scale can be reduced by using corrosion-resistant materials such as IN617. However, these materials are much more expensive than the 16Mo3 steel used hitherto.